Microsoft is trying to get severance money back from some employees it laid off last month.

In letters written to an unspecified number of laid off Microsoft workers, the company says that due to an administrative error the company paid them too much severance."... An inadvertent administrative error occurred that resulted in an overpayment in severance pay by Microsoft," the letter states. "We ask that you repay the overpayment and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience to you."

Microsoft Spokesman Lou Gellos confirmed the authenticity of the letter to the P-I Saturday evening but would not comment further, stating that it was a "private matter between the company and the affected people."He would not say how many people had been impacted but said that "there was certainly more than one."

Gellos also said that an unspecified number of other laid off employees had received smaller severance packages than what they were owed. He said Microsoft was "taking care of underpayments."Microsoft paid the 1,400 employees it laid off on Jan. 22 a minimum of sixty days of salary, plus what it described as a "generous" severance package that varied depending how long the employees had worked at the company.
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/archives/162529.asp